Just a bhoy – Giving it all away!

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How do you solve a problem like The Rangers?

Rangers Football club formed 1872 went into administration in February 2012 and are currently in a prolonged liquidation process.

Note that despite talk of incubators and holding companies, the club and company are inextricably linked according to UEFA rules. Consequentially liquidation means death of the old club. Let’s be clear on that.

In 2012, a new club was formed in a convoluted process from the companies Sevco Scotland Limited or was it Sevco 5088?

The birth of the new club was further complicated as the former was entitled to buy the assets of the old club, but the assets were purchased by the latter and then were renamed as “The Rangers Football Club”.

Did you see what they did there?

You probably didn’t. As adding the “The” was to make the change as invisible as possible while most of the deceit went on behind closed doors including the “Switcheroo” where Charles Green is alleged to have used the Sevco Scotland company to purchase the assets of the old club denying Craig White the opportunity.

The planning for Rangers administration started long before administration occurred with various meetings and documents being exchanged as far back as October 2011, a significant period before Rangers went into administration in Feb 2012.

I believe that after Rangers exited the champions league and the UEFA cup at that time their fate was sealed as the season ticket money had already been used to pay of their bank debt and there there was no money coming in to fund the rest of the season.

Administration planning started well before it occurred and the football authorities in Scotland were made aware of this to ensure all efforts were made to keep q team in blue playing out of Ibrox in the Scottush Premier League.

On the surface, the name of the game was to keep the fans, the paying customers, on side by giving the impression of “business as usual” and that nothing had changed.

The SFA role in this was to ensure the new club retained the licence of the old club and attempt a straight swap into the SPL ignoring their documented process that any new club needs to start at the bottom league.

There ensued a fans uprising from other clubs vocalised by the Raith Rovers chairman Turnbull Hutton (RIP).

My club Celtic at this point did not get involved. Was that prudent or cowardly to stand aside and let other people take the heat and avoid the backlash?

The SFA then attempted to push the new club into the second division which was also thwarted.

Finally they managed to get “The Rangers” into the 4th Division, ignoring the prior rights of the clubs from the lower leagues.

Obviously some other back room deal had taken place. The legendary 5-way agreement were the new club agreed to take the football debts of the new club.

At this point the new club has ditched the old and washed it’s hands of all debts to non football creditors including HMRC.

Since the administration “The Rangers” have leered from one catastrophe to another, funding issues, share price collapsing, rejection by their NOMAD and ejection from the stock exchange.

Charlatan after charlatan has became involved to strip the bones from this business which operates as a football club. Craig White, Charles Green now Dave King.

The latter masquerading as a “Real Rangers Man” even although I’ve probably seen more Rangers games than this chancer.

This week the switcheroo finally made the courts with various court cases against all and sundry including the individuals from Duff and Phelps the company brought in to administer the club through the liquidation process.

HMRC correctly attempted to have these guys rejected from being appointed as administrators because the were nominated by Craig White the chairman at the time who hadn’t being paying VAT or PAYE.

Most of this is now subjudice as the court cases have began, but here is a great read of the various indictments taking place.

Nothing we let the courts decide what happens to the new club and the assets of the old club including the stadium, training ground, legendary Albion car park, intellectual property etc.

If there is any real justice, these assets will be sold off at market value and the creditors of the old club will be paid.

However the ongoing business issues of the new club are their issues, if they fail or succeed then that’s down to them.

What we do want is for no favourable treatment to be applied to them and for the rules to be applied fairly to every club.

As for the old club Rangers. the facts are that they ran two illegal tax evasion schemes ( DOS and EBT) for 15 years.

The players which were allocated these payment methods were not properly registered because the side-letters to their contract was not deposited with the authorities.

In that time the old club won 20 titles, gained entry to the lucrative champions league or lesser UEFA leagues when other clubs should have been involved.

The football rules state that if a player is played when not properly registered then their club shall forfeit the game to a 3-0 defeat

This rule has been applied in particular to Livingston who forfeited their game when this rule was applied.

I realise that this is a different scale with old Rangers and if applied would result in titles being stripped or voided for those years.

The difference is that Livingstons case was a mistake were old Rsngers systematically operated the illegal schemes and did not correctly register their players.

Worse, Campbell Ogilvie chairman of the SFA is a former Rangers director who was well aware of the EBTs and in receipt of one himself. He knew the side letters were in place and not registered with the SFA.

This guy left Rangers to become chairman of the SFA, clearly certain parties getting their chess pieces in place early to prevent any predicted future catastrophes.

So what do we do about old Rangers?

In any other football governance the rules would be applied fairly and without favour.

We shouldn’t need to ask for the rules to be applied, games forfeited, titles stripped.

The problem is that we have governing bodies who are populated by people with historic affiliations with Rangers and will bend what ever rules or make them up to ensure that the team in blue that play in Ibrox thrive.

What can we do about that?

Individually we can’t, we need the member clubs to protest and the only way that their chairmen will sit up and take notice is if the fans mobilise to withdraw their support.

Personally if my club Celtic do not vocalise or mobilise to ensure sporting integrity is applied then I’m finished with them.

We knew Rangers always had favours, They called us paranoid, history shows we weren’t paranoid enough.

Bad enough to suspect you’ve been cheated, to know inherently but not be able to prove it is frustrating.

But now that it’s been proven old Rangers cheated, that they gained titles and monetary rewards through their illicit endeavours they should punished.

Obviously as the old club is now in the liquidation process then it’s pointless chasing them financially.

But they won titles through underhand means and these should be stripped accordingly.

It should be made clear to all and sundry that these titles were illegally won by the old club, that the new club has no claim on these or associated UEFA coefficients.

They are a new club and have nothing to do with the titles being stripped from the old club.

If sporting integrity is not applied then to continue playing in a crooked game is for mugs.

This will no longer be the team I supported since I was a child.

26 years of owning 2 season books, probably doesn’t pay the wages for one top player for a year.

But it goes against my principles to financially or morally support a club were the directors know that we have been cheated but are too timid or cowardly to do anything about.

“Celtic – More than a club” so the corporate blurb keeps telling us.

“The Celtic Family”.

“faithful through and through”

All that phoney baloney to keep us buying season tickets

Yep I believed all that nonsense.

I promise you this Mr Lawell, Mr Desmond etc. If you don’t stand up and be counted. Even if your efforts fail against a complicit biased SFA then you aren’t fit to govern my club and this Bhoy won’t be making my yearly donations.

I’m sure most other fans feel the same.

You have until the end of the current season to make a stand and the clocks ticking.